I stopped by Dom’s on my way home and ordered a small pizza and a drink. I sat in the back with the assistant manager and Jules while my order was cooking. It was a slow night and Jules was getting ready to do some pre cleaning prior to closing that night, but she was on break when I got there so we cut up and carried on a while. I had come in in the middle of a “girl talk” between Jules and the assistant manager. They had been discussing a new girl working at another Dom’s location. Ordinarily they would have clammed up but it was me so they just kept on. I think Jules might have been a little cruder in her observations though, just trying to get a rise out of me and of course, as usual, to make me blush. At some point she asked me what I was doing here on my night off. I told her about my day, fixing fences and then having a flat tire and having to find a replacement. I mentioned that I had stopped by to see the Teachers for a while but I didn’t go into any detail about that. And with a knowing smile, Jules refrained from asking for any details about what might that have entailed. But she did ask me if I was okay after a moment or two when I guess I looked a little somber or perhaps just too thoughtful. I of course told her I was fine, just had some things on my mind. Part of my mind was screaming at me wanting me to ask her if she had ever asked Penny about her feet or if she knew about it at all. Had she ever seen Penny cry? So many questions but I had promised to be discrete and this was a private matter. So in the end I simply shrugged and smiled as if everything was okay. When my pizza was ready I grabbed a cold bottle of Pepsi from the cooler and headed out to my truck. I ate a couple of slices before I fired up the engine and started my drive home. I was lost in thought, and I really don’t recall anything else about that night, the drive home, cleaning up, going to bed, nothing. But I dreamt about today as I slept. Oh boy did I dream!
It was Friday before I had any more free time for anything other than work, having been kept busy with responsibilities on the farm, and some other odd jobs I had committed to, as well as of course working at Dom’s. Summer was fast coming to an end and the new school semester at University would be beginning soon, I wondered how I was going to juggle everything else and still concentrate on my classes. Of course, with the changing of the seasons, things like mowing lawns and trimming hedges and the like would soon taper off and stop all together, that would free up some time. I mentioned some of these thoughts to Jules Thursday evening as we were again closing up the shop at Dom’s. I asked her what she did over the fall and winter months when the yard work was put on hold.
“First thing I do is take a vacation!” Jules said as she hefted another armload of make line bins into the sink for me to scrub clean. “Then I become a painter.” She added as she returned up front to continue cleaning the shop. ‘Painter’ I wondered?
“What kind of painting are you talking about?” I asked her on her next trip to the back where I was scrubbing away.
“Rooms… bedrooms, living rooms, bathrooms, kitchens, hallways… interior rooms of houses. You’d be surprised how many people want to do home decorating before the holidays.” She informed me as she ran a bucket full of hot water for the mopping.
“I hadn’t thought of that, do you keep pretty busy, painting?” I asked thinking that this might be something to look into myself.
“Not every year, but you never know until people start calling about it. I’ve already got three jobs lined up for September and one more maybe that’s still thinking about it.” Jules paused by the end of the washing station and looked at me pensively. I could almost see the gears turning in her mind. Her hands wrapped fist over fist around the handle of the mop that was standing in the wheeled mop bucket at about the height of her chin that was conveniently resting on one of her hands. She cocked her head to one side and gave me a sideways glance. “Have you ever done any interior house painting Jim?” She asked. I already knew that she was thinking about getting me to help her out if I was available, she’s one crafty opportunistic woman. That and she considered me a good source of reliable help I suppose.
“Well, not as a job, but my whole family helped with remodeling the old farm house that we live in now after we moved to the farm. We had to do a lot of renovations before we could move into it, everything from flooring, to drywall and of course painting.” I shrugged and continued washing pans as she worked it out in her head.
“So you have some experience then.” Jules said hanging the statement out like a flag to see which way the wind was blowing before finally coming out with the question. “Do you think that you might be able to help me out on a job now and then if I get more work than I can handle? I would pay you fairly…” She looked at me with that one eyebrow reaching for her scalp and a teasing grin on her face. She already knew I would say yes but she had to ask all the same.
“Sure…” I told her. “…As long as it doesn’t interfere with my classes or of course conflict with my schedule here at Dom’s.” I shrugged again and smiled. Jules straightened up and beamed at me before throwing me another teaser… and that’s what it was I’m sure of it because, well… she knew me too well.
“Oh… and by the way… Michelle has already told me she’d be happy to help out with painting jobs too this fall. So…” She turned her head away from me again looking at me sidelong and smiling that knowing smile as she pushed the mop bucket up front to mop the floor. I shook my head and smiled knowing that Jules was working angles and making plans… meddling in my personal life and having a blast doing it. Ugh!
Friday morning I got to have breakfast with the whole family for a change. I wasn’t scheduled to work at Dom’s until dinner rush and then close again, and I had no other odd jobs to tend to that day. Mom was happy that I and everyone else was actually at the table for a change rather than passing in small numbers on different schedules. Only one breakfast to cook this way. Over breakfast I told about my being asked to help out with some painting jobs this fall. Of course mom’s first question was whether or not that might be a problem with my classes. I reassured her that I had already made that point to Jules and we were going to work around it. That made my parents happy knowing that I put my schooling first. That also brought up the subject of my tutoring. Now that summer was coming to an end and mowing the lawn in exchange wouldn’t be possible, was I going to continue with them and if so how? How indeed? I had been thinking about that for over a week now and still hadn’t come up with any ideas. I told my parents that I was actually going to call my tutors that morning and see if I could get in for a lesson today before work at Dom’s and I would ask them about further payment or classes as well. That said, I made a call to their number.
“Jim darling, we were just talking about you.” Penny cheerfully commented.
“You were? Funny, I was just talking about you and Maggie with my parents as well.” I told her before getting to the point of the call. “I find that I am free of obligations until this evening when I work at Dom’s for the dinner rush and closing afterwards. I was calling to see if you or Maggie had any time for me today.”
“Of course darling, we’ll be expecting you, and thank you for calling Jim.” She effused all but blowing me a kiss before she broke the connection by hanging up. I told my parents that I was headed to town early to see my tutors and to ask about possibilities of continuing working with them this fall around my classes if we could work out some sort of payment plan. I grabbed my book bag and stuffed my Dom’s uniform in it along with some clean socks and a change of tee shirts and a pair of pants to replenish my spare clothing at Maggie and Penny’s house. I was out the door and on my way minutes later.
I was a bit surprised when I pulled up to the Teachers’ house and I noticed that Jules’ car was parked outside. Now I knew that she of course was responsible for their yard work, mowing the lawn and what not, even if she had other people to do the work. I also suspected for quite a while before I found out for certain that she was a former ‘student’ of the teachers’ as well. But I had not expected to run into Jules here all the same. Penny greeted me at the door when I rang the bell, as pleasantly as ever, a good sign perhaps. Once more, she was fully dressed in her ‘work clothes’ as she referred to them. Work clothes being business attire, in her case a modest skirt suit with jacket and sensible shoes. Today’s ensemble was a not so frumpy pencil skirt with a peach colored blouse with a ruffled button down front and a close collar. Over the blouse was a lightweight jacket that matched the skirt in color at least. Penny’s half frame glasses hung from her neck by that beaded necklace that I suspected was actually made of real pearls. Her nails of course, always impeccably manicured were painted today in the same peach color as her blouse. It still amazes me to this day how much effort some women put into their makeup and wardrobe. And yes, Penny actually had on makeup today, or at least noticeably more than she would normally wear on any given day.
“Jim, darling! Come in, come in.” she bubbled as she held the inner door open for me to enter. As I stepped inside, Maggie and Jules stepped halfway through the beaded curtain at the bottom of the stairs to the lower level.
“Well speak of the devil…” Jules said sarcastically and grinned up at me, Maggie too was smiling in a cryptic sort of way.
“Jim, could you join us downstairs, we need to ask you a few questions.” Maggie spoke before withdrawing along with Jules back behind the curtain. I looked at Penny and she simply smiled and motioned with her right hand to proceed. Shrugging, I nodded and headed down the stairs. Pushing through the beaded curtain, I saw Jules and Maggie standing by the table behind the student desks that had the projector on it. Jules was bent over a note pad scribbling something down. Maggie was bent over accordingly as they were discussing whatever Jules was writing down. What a site, Jules dressed… well… as Jules. Her go to outfit usually consisted of an old comfortable pair of jeans and some sort of tee shirt or sweatshirt as the temperatures outdoors cooled. When in uniform for work at Dom’s Jules had to wear at least a training bra over her board flat chest but only to conceal her nipples. A cruel joke by Mother Nature I suppose to compensate for her lack of breasts, Jules had inordinately large nipples, furthermore, they were pierced. Jules always had some sort of jewelry in them. Out of uniform of course she rarely wore a bra so those big nipples and her decorations often were clearly visible through any tee shirt, just as they were today. She had an old baseball cap on her head. From behind, unless you knew her, you would think you were looking at a guy. Standing next her was Maggie, she was dressed according to ‘house rules’, which today was a ruby red silk robe with black trim and a sash belt tie. Her legs, as usual were encased in a pair of stockings, black to match the trim on the robe I suspect. Where Penny was never without her silk footies, Maggie was rarely if ever without stockings, even if she were not wearing shoes like today. Maggie’s nails were in a shining blood red as well. Noticing me come through the curtain, Jules motioned me over with a toss of her head.
Leave a Reply